


For the Love of a Thief

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-16 22:56:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15447681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cécile's story begins when Shura piques her interest—the evening before the infiltration of her army's ship





	1. Afternoon Reverie/Cordial Conquest

**Author's Note:**

> I'm obviously new—I have only written one fanfic before, and didn't post it here.  
> I know this is a short entry, but I don't want to keep going if my idea doesn't catch anyone's interest; so let me know :)

(i. afternoon reverie)

A miscalculated step caused me to stumble through the threshold of the run-down tavern, attracting the eyes of some male patrons who were seated by the entrance. I disregarded their off-colored remarks and suggestions as I scanned the room for the face that I had seen prior that day. And then, again. He might not have been there anymore; several hours now separated me from the moment I had watched him go inside. This setting, I had previously imagined, would do nothing for me; and as I stood there presently, I could say with confidence that it did not. My restive thoughts drifted from one to another while I surveyed the room for a third and fourth time.

A coarse voice tried to lure me closer to its table, but I wasted little breath on a rebuke before I locked eyes with the crooked hero of my afternoon reverie. Skeptical of where I would find the words to address the rather shady-looking man, I crossed the room and took the stool beside him.

“—Hey, didn’t I see you earlier?—Are you following me?” His expression suggested that if I was, he guessed that I would not be on an amicable pursuit; and this gave me a strange relief.

I shook my head and assured him that I was not. When he was convinced that I held no grudge against him, any alleviation that I had just felt seemingly left me and transfered over to my new companion.

He laughed. “Then what brings you?”

“—Some friends of mine were to meet me here.”

“Oh,” he said, glancing around. “But where are they?” He gave me an inadvertently seductive half-smile.

“A-anyway, I’m called Cécile.” The only response that I earned was the reciprocation of my curious stare. “Well—?”

“Oh, right. Name’s Shura.”

After our very brief exchange, I decided that he did not seem to me like a common criminal; mischievous was perhaps a competent descriptor for his appearance and mannerisms. The heavy conscious that he carried was easily discernible, though, and it betrayed that he had no doubt done some unscrupulous things in his time to get by.

He shifted his eyes to the degenerate who had accosted me moments ago, and who was presently walking towards us.

“There you are. First you steal my gold, now my girl?”

“Your girl? The hell you talking about?” retorted Shura.

“Ah, so you don’t deny that you took the gold. You good for nothing—” Moving nearer to the thief, he drew a knife from his belt. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Your choice.”

Uncertain of Shura’s nature or intent, I silently chose to side with him. Good reasoning might have suggested that I leave at once, but, had my senses accompanied me that day, I would have checked my straying thoughts in the beginning and kept my distance from the tavern altogether; so when the man led him to the neighboring alleyway, I trailed closely behind.

“You know her?”

“No clue who she is.” Shura looked at me. “Do you have a death wish or something? Get out of here.”

“I want to know what is going on.”

“Your friend here has robbed me of three year’s worth of gold, and he’s right: you need to leave before this gets ugly.”

“He’s a thief, but you are obviously a murderer,” I said, drawing my own dagger from its holster.

“I ain’t killed nobody yet. All he’s got to do is give me back the gold.”

“Yeah, well I can’t do that,” said Shura.

“And why the hell not?”

“I need it.”

“You think you need my gold? Oh, it won’t do you no good where you’re going—”

“Don’t ignore me.” I pointed my dagger at him.

He laughed. “You even know what to do with that?”

“I have ended more lives with this than I care to talk about.” It was true, and though neither man looked convinced, they needed only to take a closer glance at the well-worn blade for confirmation.

“Listen, I never laid a finger on a girl before, and I don’t plan on trying anything new today. Stay out of this.”

Having taken advantage of the man’s diverted attention, the shifty thief managed to loosen from his grasp and slip away into the darkness of the winding alleyways. He was clearly quite crafty, and now that he had disappeared, he was not going to be found again.

“Damn it! This is your fault, you know that? I ought to have your head.” Happily, it was against his otherwise flimsy morals to do so; and with a grunt, he left—I guessed in a vain search for the new owner of his wealth.

— — — — —

(ii. cordial conquest)

I will forgo the monotonous details of the next days skirmish, and fast-forward to the final act, whereupon exposing the identity of the pirate who conducted the conquest of our ship, I beheld the swindler once more.

“Bah! I must be getting sloppy if you were able to see through my disguise,” he said, “Now that you’ve found me, I have no choice but to defeat you all!”

“Wait, that’s a Nohrian pirate! But he leads his men just like a ninja,” said Xander, “And how did a common pirate sneak aboard? It doesn’t add up. I’ll get to the bottom of this later. For now, all that matters is stopping him!”

My feeble attempts to stop Xander from accepting Shura’s challenge proved fruitless; and, as I anticipated, with a few indifferent blows from his legendary sword, the pirate was thrown to the ground and pleading for his life. It was not that Shura was inept—before he entered into battle with my brother, his acquisition was nearly successful—but Xander’s power was matchless; anyone who knew him, also knew to stay in the right with him.

“So now what? Well?! What are you going to do with me? For what it’s worth, I’d much rather live than die.”

“I implore you, Brother, that you show him mercy; please, I wish to hear him out.”

“Very well, then. Speak, thief. Make your case quickly.”

“You called me a ‘Nohrian pirate.’ I am no Nohrian, but a ninja from Kohga, a land that exists only in memory now; my clan served the Hoshidan royalty. After Kohga fell, I was chased from my home and separated from the other survivors. I—had no choice. I was a child. It was either steal or die, and I chose to steal. I eventually found myself in Nohr, where I carved out a life for myself as a pirate.  
And I figured since the war broke out, I could use the chaos to take down the daimyō of Mokushu—the scum responsible for destroying my people.”

“You wish to return home to exact your revenge?” queried my brother.

“Yep, spot on.”

I digested his hurried, yet seemingly authentic story; though he was crafty, I could discern integrity and conviction when he gave his account.

“The choice is yours, Little Princess. What will you have?”

He interrupted. “Please—you seem reasonable. Spare my life, and I swear you won’t regret it.”

“First you steal from us, and now you want to be our ally,” I said, but my decision was already made.

“Yeah, sorry about the stealing business. Think of it as a showcase of my skills! C’mon, what’d’ya say? Wouldn’t hurt to have somebody like me around, right?!”

“You’re right. And after all you’ve been through, Shura, I feel like you are long overdue for some mercy. I will allow you to join our cause,” I said; and purporting a sense of wariness in order to appease my brother, I continued: “Just know that if you step out of line, for even a moment, I will end you myself.”

“Little Princess, I don’t remember him saying his—”

“You mean it?! Thank you, milady! I swear on my fallen people, I will never betray your kindness. My life is yours now.”


	2. Errant Eyes

(iii. errant eyes)

Training was ever at the forefront of Kaze’s mind—primarily as of late. He had become my retainer a few (rather long) weeks ago, and, like any true ninja would, he was taking his assignment seriously. Today, however, he determined that the frequent combat and constant training were taking their toll on me.

“If you are feeling unwell, we can end practice for today,” he said. “Would you care to join me for dinner later?”

“Thank you, but not tonight.”

“Oh—all right. Have you been preoccupied lately? You know you can tell me anything, milady.”

“It is nothing. I’ve just been tired.”

“It does not seem like nothing, but I won’t pry any more than I already have. I shall let you alone now, and bid you a good-night.”

“Good-night,” was my response. Kaze was not long out of sight before I let my eyes stray brazenly to the new recruit. I could see him, but he could not see me as he pulled his right arm back and made another perfect shot.

“Oh my—”

I was startled, and my cheeks grew warm; mistakenly, I had thought he and I were the only ones who remained on the training grounds. “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough to see that Kaze doesn’t have a chance with you,” said Laslow, with a smirk.

“Don’t speak nonsense—”

“Right, of course! But, Lady Cécile, you might try harder to keep your eyes in your head."

“Not a word of this to anyone—do you hear me?”

“Naturally, milady,” he said, wandering off to find another source of entertainment. He meant no harm, but his playful nature was not always well-received, such as presently.

I turned my attention back on the reformed outlaw while he retrieved his arrows and packed up his equipment, and retired to my private quarters as soon as he quit my undetected company.

—

Moments after I pulled the covers over me, there was a knock at the door.

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” said the visitor, who probably had not guessed that I was ready for sleep.

“Thank you, Kaze, but, do you really want to come in at this hour? People might talk.”

“I didn’t think of that, milady.” He blushed. “To be truthful, I wished to ask you something over dinner tonight, and it would be torture for me if I had to wait another day.”

“Come in, then. Let me prepare some tea.”

He sipped from his cup, and had such an intense look about him, that, at first, I thought I might have made his tea too strong. “I have been your retainer for only a short while now,” he said, “but I fear it is a harder task than I thought.”

“Kaze, what in the world can you mean? Have I been so difficult—”

“Please, let me finish.”

“I—I’m sorry. Go on.”

“As I was saying: I have pledged myself to you as your retainer; I am your servant and your bodyguard. Therefore, under no circumstance am I allowed to say what I am about to, but I love you, Lady Cécile. Will you be my wife?”

I contemplated his words for what felt like an aeon, and then retreated from the table. “Kaze, please give me some time to think.”

He granted my request and immediately excused himself; my reaction, I had guessed, was the worst one that he could have imagined. After a half hour, I accepted that any further attempts at sleep would be in vain, wrapped myself in my cloak, and went outside for a late-night walk. I wondered what was wrong with me. No female with a sound mind would have faltered at the opportunity I had been given; Kaze was a loyal and good man, and I should have felt proud at the notion of being his wife. My thoughts were interrupted.

“Oh—good evening, Lady Cécile. Well, I guess it isn’t really evening any more.”

“Shura, you’ve been avoiding me all day today, and all day yesterday.”

“I apologize. Don’t take it personally, but I feel that I’m on thin ice as it is. I only want to do my job—as I promised—and keep out of the way.”

“What would be the purpose behind that? You should get to know the others—do you not think it is important to have confidence in those with whom you ride into battle?”

“Under normal circumstances, of course it is. But it’s not that simple for someone with my reputation; which is why I prefer to remain alone.”

“I don’t understand.”

“My face is not unknown. Many people recognize me as an outlaw. If word spread that I was among your ranks, it would make more trouble for you than I am worth.”

“That sounds—rather exaggerated, Shura. I think that you have allowed bygone mistakes to weigh you down for too long. Won’t you please spend a little time talking to the others around camp? There are many in our company with pasts that they would prefer erased. I think listening to their stories and sharing your own would do you some good.” It occurred to me that my advice was unsolicited, and I ended my discourse. “The gods know that I have made plenty of bad decisions—and I’m not so foolish to think that I’ve made my last.” I smiled at him.

“Truly?” For a moment, the ebon cover of the moonless night did not eclipse my view of him, and I could discern a glint of hope ere his spirit sobered again. “Bah—it’s too late for me.”

“Shura—”

“It was very kind of you to talk with me like this, but you needn’t trouble yourself any more for my sake,” he continued: “And, milady, I must insist that you avoid my company off the battlefield from now on. Please try to understand.”

“But—”

“Now, go on. It’s late, and you should have been asleep hours ago.”

“—All right. Good-night, Shura.”

“Good-night, Lady Cécile.”


End file.
